I just realized I completely forgot to put a spoiler warning, sorry about that. Also, this story takes place sometime after Saturday Night Lies because new episodes won't air until September. On with the story!
So an evil super villain was heading towards a girl she had previously helped take hostage, and said just so happened to be the little sister of Kid Danger and Man Fans president.
Not exactly calming, right?
Henry rose up and practically jumped out of the bush. Or would've, if Charlotte hadn't stopped him by grabbing his arm,
"Charlotte, what the butt?" Henry hissed, struggling to break free from her grip. Since when is Charlotte this strong?
"Henry, if you jump out, someone's gonna notice and it's going to look suspicious, particularly to Nurse Cohort. And you and I both know that you're sister's going to question it."
Henry realized that he hadn't thought of that, but still wanted out of that bush. "Yeah, what what if Nurse Cohort recognizes Piper?"
Charlotte's forehead creased. She looked behind her through the leaves.
"Okay, Henry. There's no one there, but we should be care-"
Henry cut Charlotte off by diving out of the bush, dragging her with him.
"-ful." Charlotte let go and they both found Piper and Nurse Cohort. They were getting closer… and closer… and….
Hold up. Henry squinted and realized that Nurse Cohort has her face buried in her phone. Piper happened to glance towards Nurse Cohort and saw her. She scooted away a bit upon realizing who the woman was.
Henry and Charlotte breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief before jogging towards Piper.
"Piper, what are you doing here?" Henry was trying really hard to control his voice and tone, given he was still recovering from watching his little sister and a villain get so close to each other.
Piper bit her lip and went, "Ummmmmmmm IIIIII…." She silently cursed herself for not coming up with an excuse before hand. That's when, all of a sudden, she found one. "I saw Nurse Cohort come here and followed her, because I was afraid she was up to something. What are you doing here?"
Henry frowned at her and ignored the question. "Pipes, you shouldn't have done that. She may not necessarily been up to something bad. You shouldn't spy on people."
Behind him, Charlotte was trying not to laugh at the irony.
Piper was trying to figure out what to say when Henry said, "Piper, go home. And next time," he added pointedly, "don't stalk a villain who knows who you are. That's kinda… how do I put this, stupid."
Piper could feel her cheeks getting warm with embarrassment, even though she didn't actually follow Nurse Cohort around. (I have got to come up with excuses beforehand next time, she thought.)
Actually, she hadn't even seen the villain until a minute before she saw her brother. Piper had arrived at the park and, having no better idea, just wondered around, looking for Henry and/or Kid Danger. It was a pure coincidence that she ended up where she did.
Even so, she mumbled an "okay" and left.
Kind of.
Instead of leaving the park like Henry told her too, Piper walked for a minute before hiding behind a tree and watching her brother and Charlotte. They were talking, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She watched them leave and they seemed to disappear.
Piper considered following them, but she knew she might get caught again. She hadn't even seen Henry nor Charlotte until they were right in front of her face, like they had been hiding or something.
Wait. Piper though for a minute. They would have to have been close by, and it's weird that she didn't see them. If I'm correct, that Kind Danger is my brother- gag- then maybe he was spying on Nurse Cohort.
But wait, Charlotte was with him. Although, now that I think about it, maybe Charlotte knows. Could she? I mean, she's mega smart, and…
The more Piper thought about it, the more it made sense. She recalled the time she had a tanning salon in her house, and the conversation they had. Charlotte had seemed so worried about Jasper knowing Henry's secret…
I asked her what other secrets Henry had. And Charlotte has a job at Junk N' Stuff. So does Jasper, although I can't understand why Captain Man would hire a quarter-wit like him.
Besides that last part, Piper was more sure now of what she was investigating.
After Piper "left" the park, Henry turned to Charlotte. "That was way too close. It's a good thing Cohort didn't see her."
Charlotte nodded. "Yeah… but something's nagging at me. I'm just not sure what it is."
"Yeah." The both tried to figure it out for a minute, but came up with nothing.
"Crap, we should find her." Charlotte said suddenly.
"Piper? Why?"
"Nurse Cohort, Henry."
"Oh. OH. You're right, let's, go."
It was at that point they seemed to disappear to Piper, but not because they left, but because Ray called Henry and they ducked back into a bush- a smaller one this time.
"Henry, I just spotted- what the, why are you and Charlotte all… smushed together?" Ray could see about half of each teenager's face, and they were literally touching.
"There's not enough room in this bush. You spotted what?"
"Oh! I spotted Nurse Cohort, why'd you let her out of your sight?!"
"Uh… that's a long story. Explain later, where are you?"
Ray gave him there location, which was a few minutes across the park. "Hurry." Ray hung up. The two teens climbed out of the bush, glad there was no one around. (Well, Piper was still behind her tree, but she was thinking at this point.)
"One problem," Henry said, frowning. "We can't 'hurry' unless we run, and that might look weird."
"Henry, there's a jogging trail." Charlotte pointed toward it. "We can use that."
A few minutes and one water fountain break later, the found Ray and Schwoz behind a small group of trees. Ray held a finger to his lips and motioned for them to come.
Henry and Charlotte crept over and peered through the lower branches. Sure enough, both Nurse Cohort and Dr. Minyak were there, talking.
"... still can't figure it out." Minyak rested his head on is hand. "It works on your filthy laundry but not anything else. Why?"
Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look, sharing the same thought: He must be talking about the stuff Nurse Cohort was using earlier.
"I don't know. Perhaps it only works on food stains."
"Perhaps, though I doubt it. Very unlikely. Did any get on your skin?"
"No, I made sure of it. I don't want to know what that stuff could do to a human."
Minyak pondered what she said for a moment. Then (shudder), he smiled. "A human," he repeated. "That gives me an idea. But we shan't talk about it here. Let's go." They turned around and started walking… right towards us?
Oh shoot.
Henry and the gang froze, but the evil pair walked right passed them. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"That," said Ray after a moment, "was way too close."
"No kidding," Charlotte added, waiting for her heart rate to go back down to normal.
Henry looked back in the general direction the villains had walked in. "I think we lost 'em, guys."
"Dang," said Ray. (Something like that, anyway.) "Now what?"
Henry shrugged. "I don't know."
Schwoz spoke up. "Maybe… maybe we could go back to the Man Cave and try tracking them down again."
"Starting back at square one. Yay." Ray leaned back against a tree.
"Not necessarily," said Charlotte. "I mean, we know that they seem to be working together, so there's some assurance."
"Charlotte's right," added Henry. "And that stuff they were talking about- we saw Nurse Cohort use it earlier. Her clothes were covered in food stains, and she put a drop of some liquid on them, and, boom, clean clothes."
Ray nodded. "So we know what they're talking about." He frowned. "But we don't know much else. Maybe," he snapped his fingers, "we could go back to the Man Cave and try tracking them down again."
"That's what I said!"
"Hmm? What? Sorry, Schwoz, didn't hear you."
Henry and Charlotte rolled their eyes.
No sooner had Ray started walking towards the parking lot (they could see the old van form there) when an automatic sprinkler came on at full blast.
The other three burst into laughter. Schwoz kept going, "Karma! Karma!" right in a drenched Ray's face. He glared at them, and stomped towards the van.
As of posting this chapter, I have less than 48 hours before summer vacation has officially ended. As much as I'm looking forward to my performance electives, I'm less than thrilled about less Fanfiction and more math.
Ciao, and Happy Reading!